The Cape's Best Kept Secret

The "Children's Beach" on Nantucket is a five minute stroll from Straight Wharf where Freedom Ferry docks. The red sail is on a Beetle Cat which is part of the island's "Rainbow Fleet."

We'd been going to Nantucket "the hard way" for years before we discovered Freedom Cruise, the Nantucket ferry from Harwichport

By Walter Brooks, photographs by Patricia Brooks

The two hour ride to Nantucket,
Can be halved if you know how to shuck it.
                   The really, good news;
                    Take Freedom Cruise,
And put your savings in a Nantucket bucket.

Like most people who live on or simply love Cape Cod, we also luxuriate in the knowledge that our nearby islands are within a few hours of any point on our peninsula.

Capt. Barry Fuller, longtime G.M. of the Steamship Authority, has been at the helm of the Nantucket Ferry for a decade. Click any image to enlarge.

Bring your bike since a rental will cost double the boat's fee. Click the photo to see the scene better.

Paulette, Paul & Pat on the Saquatucket Harbor dock on Route 28 in Harwichport. On the right is one of the beautiful homes on this harbor.

Most of that distance (and cost) diminished this weekend when our house guests from Palm Beach wanted to make a day trip to Nantucket and my wife remembered Freedom Cruise Line, the Nantucket ferry which leaves from Harwichport.

This speedy, new boat leaves from Saquatucket Harbor in Harwichport on Route 28. The trip takes one hour and five minutes, or about half the time as the ferries from Hyannis. The boat's "planing hull" skims over the waves at 28 m.p.h.

And you'll save money too

And best of all, you don't have to fight the traffic to Hyannis to get to this Nantucket ferry.

The parking at Freedom Cruise Line is free and the adult fare is about $16 less than other ferries which also charge around $15 for parking.

Of course we haven't even mentioned yet the advantage of having two more hours on the island.

We took the 8 am boat and returned at 4 pm. We could have stayed until the 7:30 pm return, but found that seven hours ashore was enough for mega-shopping and a great lunch at The Atlantic Café on Water Street.

You should plan to arrive 30 minutes prior to departure from Harwichport (the dock area is pleasant to wander around), and be back at the boat on Nantucket 15 minutes before it sails because this boat leaves on time. Weekends are less crowded and this ship is fully Coast Guard approved & inspected.

Great White Shark added to the mix

This local entrepreneur is equally famous for seal and seabird tours which take vacationers and locals alike out around Monomoy and the other islands these animals frequent.

Each seal tours is always a little different from the previous since seals move about, and lately there are reports of a Great White Shark harassing the poor seals. 

In the 1970s, fewer than 20 of these aquatic clowns were seen around this same area. Since then, with marine mammal protection regulations in place, the seal population has exploded to about 6,000 on the Monomoy islands, making it home to one of the largest seal colonies in New England.

To see the usual route these tours take, click here.

• Freedom Cruise Line, Inc.
  Sailing from Saquatucket Harbor, 702 Main Street (Route 28), Harwich Port, Massachusetts 02646
  For reservations or information: Call (508) 432-8999 or email info@nantucketislandferry.com
• Nantucket photos from Best Read Guide.